


Seven Years with the Marauders

by Underthenarniansun



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gay, M/M, Marauders, Marauders era, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:18:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Underthenarniansun/pseuds/Underthenarniansun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The seven years that the Marauders spent at Hogwarts, the trouble they caused, and the back stories that JK Rowling never gave us.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sirius Black wasn't sure how he felt about Hogwarts. On one hand, it presented him with the freedom from his parents that he had always desired, on the other hand, he knew that he was going to end up in Slytherin, as everyone in his family did, and he wasn't overtly ecstatic for that. And he was still on the train.

He had just gotten on the train, in fact. His parents had hardly bothered to even drop him off. Rather they left him outside the train station and told him that if he couldn't figure out how the platform worked he'd best just not come home. Thankfully, he had figured it out after observing a few other students and had gotten onto the train with plenty of time to spare.

The only people that Sirius knew were those who's parents were friends with his and whom he knew to be unpleasant, so he avoided them, choosing instead to find an empty compartment and settling in alone. He should've figured that eventually other students would join him, but he hadn't really thought of it, nor had he thought of the possibility of actually making some friends. And of course it didn't happen very simply. The first of his new friends that he met was a certain Remus Lupin.

Remus Lupin walked hurriedly through the hallways of the train, looking for an empty compartment and trying to avoid eye contact. He could just feel the stares of the other students. Some pitying, as he was probably in the most tattered robes to ever exist outside of a garbage disposal and also painfully thin, especially for his height, which was great considering that he was only eleven, some curious, as he was walking quite quickly and seemed to be trying to shrink into himself, which was amusing to watch considering his height, and some targeting, because, although, as previously stated, Remus Lupin was tall for his age, he was thin and nervous and a prime target for a certain group of third year Slytherin boys. Those very third year Slytherin boys decided that it would be great fun to gang up on Remus Lupin and decidedly did so. And it would have gone well for them, as Remus made no attempt to defend himself or escape (perhaps he thought that that would make them get bored and leave, but it only encouraged them), however they had chosen an unideal location to beat him up at. Directly outside of the compartment that Sirius was sitting in.

Upon hearing the sound of Remus being slammed up against the glass door of his compartment, Sirius looked up from the window that he had been glancing out of. Once he had assessed what was happening, he sprang up and yanked open the compartment door. The Slytherin boys looked up, startled, but after a moment one of them finally seemed to recognize him

"Hold on a second. Is that Black? Sirius Black? Finally at Hogwarts are you, huh? Well join in mate!" He encouraged.

Sirius shook with anger at that. The idea of being grouped with people like that infuriated him. He pulled out his wand and, as the other boys mistook it for him joining them and let down their guard, Sirius Black petrified all three of them. The three Slytherin boys stood frozen and wide-eyed, as did Remus Lupin, in fact, Lupin was so frozen and wide-eyed that Sirius was concerned for a second that he had hit him with a petrifying curse as well, but, when he held out his hand to help him up, Remus took it. 

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." Remus replied quietly, ready to collect his things and find an empty compartment.

However, as he turned to find his bag, he found Sirius helping him collect it. Sirius grinned and handed Remus his suitcase and then did something else that Remus had not been expecting. He asked him to join him.

"Do you want to sit in this compartment with me?" He offered.

Remus looked at Sirius, surprised, but he nodded and hesitantly followed Sirius in. He took a seat on a bench opposite of Sirius and carefully accepted his bag back.

Sirius noticed how uncomfortable that this guy seemed, and then he noticed that he didn't know this guy's name.

"So, um, what's your name?" He asked. 

Remus looked up at the boy, Sirius, in front of him. He found himself having even more difficulty speaking than usual as he stared into his piercing grey eyes. "Remus." He finally forced out. "Remus Lupin." He added.

Sirius nodded, "I'm Sirius. Sirius Black." He replied, offering his hand out for a shake. As much as he disliked his parents, their manners had rubbed off on him a little.

Remus carefully took Sirius' hand and shook it. He had a firm grip, Sirius. Remus took note of that. His father had taught him many things about what different types of handshakes meant and, just by his handshake, Sirius was making a good impression on Remus. Of course, having saved him from those third years had helped too. Suddenly Remus didn't feel so hopeless when it came to the prospect of making friends.

Sirius was just getting Remus to start opening up a bit, talking about things he liked and how excited he was about going to Hogwarts, when two boys burst into their compartment. One of these two boys quickly turned around and locked the compartment door and then pulled the curtains down, hiding them from anyone in the hallway. This boy then turned around and noticed Sirius and Remus, turned to the other boy, and then burst out laughing.

"Peter, you said this compartment was empty!" He complained while laughing.

"Well, I thought that it was!" Assumably Peter protested, "Or maybe it was the compartment across from this one..." He mused.

"Well, it obviously wasn't this one." The first boy told him.

"Sorry, James." Assumably Peter apologized.

"Don't worry, Peter." Assumably James replied, "This'll be fine."

Then the two froze as shouting was heard from somewhere in the hall. Assumably James needlessly shushed everybody in the compartment and pressed his ear to the door. Sirius and Remus shot each other questioning looks, but remained silent, curious to see how this would work out.

The four boys sat quietly until Assumably James relaxed and turned to Assumably Peter and said "Whew, that was a close one."

He then turned to Sirius and Remus and said "Hello, sorry about that. Long story, quite unimportant. I'm James Potter and this is Peter Pettigrew." He gestured to Peter.

Sirius smiled, "I'm Sirius Black, and this is Remus Lupin." He introduced. 

James smiled back and plopped down next to Sirius. "Do you mind if we share this compartment with you?"

"Not at all." Sirius replied, although he felt like James would have stayed either way.

Peter sat down next to Remus and carefully shoved his bag under his seat. Within a few minutes the four boys were talking and joking as if they'd known each other for ages. In fact, they got so caught up in their conversation, that they barely noticed when they finally arrived at Hogwarts.

 

Flash forward a couple of weeks and all four boys had been sorted into Gryffindor, much to their delight and, even more fortunately, they also shared a dorm room. They had quickly become so close that they were nearly inseparable.

James and Sirius seemed to be the most alike one another. They were both quite smart but rarely applied themselves and had a knack for troublemaking. Unfortunately for Remus and Peter, tagging along with them pinned their troublemaker reputation onto them as well. Peter was a fairly quiet and clumsy boy who was accustomed to following the flow. He greatly admired the other three. Remus was contemplative and quiet most of the time, but when he spoke he never wasted a word and his insults could be scathing. He was extremely intelligent, so intelligent that he often ended up writing papers for James and Sirius, but with them around him, he didn't have to worry about bullied, so he was happy to help his friends. All together the four boys caused trouble and were quite brilliant while they did it.

The four boys also found themselves instantly disliking a certain Slytherin by the name of Severus Snape. And, although Severus was indeed a quite unpleasant person, it was questionable if he really deserves the level of torture that the four put him through. However as they were well liked no one questioned them.

No one except Lily Evans.

Lily Evans was a first year Gryffindor who was so smart that she made everybody question why she wasn't in Ravenclaw. She also followed the rules and although she could be mean at times she was very compassionate and fiercely protective of her friends. And Severus Snape was her friend. Therefore, she strongly disliked the four boys. Mostly James, whom she correctly pegged as the ring leader of the pranking of Snape.

This was unfortunate for James as he had a crush on Lily Evans the second she sassed him for setting off some dungbombs in History of Magic, which, to be fair, was a terribly boring class. Even Remus had to agree, and he was usually very enthusiastic about his classes, but Professor Binns was just dreadfully dull.

And they kept planning their genius pranks together under Remus' disapproving supervision, except for those times when Remus was gone.

"Has Remus really got to go to another funeral?" James questioned because, although Remus did not in any way approve of their pranks, he did have some great ideas that he gave them just to help them get away with the pranks.

"I thought his mum was sick" Peter said in confusion.

"Maybe his mum is sick and he's at a funeral?" Sirius suggested.

"Yeah, that makes sense." James agreed and they got back to planning their next prank.

What they didn't know, and wouldn't figure out for another year, was that Remus Lupin had a secret that he was decisively keeping from even his closest friends.

He was a werewolf.

Remus Lupin had been bit by a werewolf when he was quite young and had been infected ever since. As it had been several years, he was used to making up excuses for why he would have to disappear for a day or two. He was quite good at it. He was not quite as good, however, at hiding the after affects of his transformations. He was saved from that by the fact that his friends tended to be preoccupied with school work and pranking and the fact that they all enjoyed Quidditch, so it wasn't uncommon for them to look a bit worse for wear. 

Remus was very careful around the others, making sure that he never changed in front of them so they couldn't see his scars and always acting more upbeat than he felt in order to hide his tiredness. He was good at hiding his secret.

And Sirius Black was good at hiding his secret. 

Something that he hasn't ever wanted to tell his friends was how horrid his parents were. The Black's were a part of a very old wizard tree and terribly pompous about it. They were prejudiced against those who weren't pure bloods and traced their lineage all the way back to Salazar Slytherin himself. All members of the glorious house of Black were Slytherins. Except Sirius.

This of course meant that Sirius was immediately disowned as soon as his parents found out that he had been sorted into Gryffindor. He had received a rather strongly worded letter the next day detailing how he had disgraced the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. Obviously, he was not looking forward to going back home. 

See, even before Sirius had been Sorted as a Gryffindor, his parents never favored him. And they had no problem showing him. The Blacks were a cruel family who dealt out the cruciatus curse to Sirius almost as often as they cursed the name of all Mudbloods. Which was a lot

But that was also a secret that wouldn't be found out by the others, at least not for a few years.


	2. Chapter Two: They Figure Out Remus' Furry Little Secret

"Is your mum really sick again, Remus?" Sirius whined, "I mean, I'm sorry she's got a shoddy immune system, but you said you were going to help me with my Charms essay."

Remus shifted awkwardly with his overnight bag, "Sorry Sirius, I'll help you with your next essay. Promise." 

Then he walked off and left a disgruntled Sirius to stare at a blank piece of parchment. It really wasn't fair. They had barely been back at school for two weeks and already Flitwick had assigned them an essay. He glared at his unstarted paper until James came bounding down the stairs into the Common Room.

"Hey mate. Whatcha up to?" He asked Sirius.

"That Charms essay." He droned, then sat up, "actually, shouldn't you and Peter be doing this too?"

"Oh, shoot!" James shouted, "that's right! I was going to get Remus to help me but he had to go to the funeral of his great uncle or something."

"No, his mum is sick," Sirius said, looking at James quizzically.

"I thought he was getting his wisdom teeth pulled out." Peter said as he wandered down the stairs himself.

All three boys looked at each other, suddenly absolutely certain that their friend was hiding something.

 

By the next month when Remus had to leave again, the boys had already caught on to the fact that he did leave school quite a lot. And they compared the excuses he gave all of them again, not very surprised to find that they did not match up.

Sirius felt quite offended. His friend was hiding something from him! Regardless of the fact that he was hiding things from his own friends, he couldn't believe that Remus could have any secret that was bad enough to hide from them. Remus was just... Remus. A goody-two-shoes, incredibly smart, annoyingly rule-abiding, but overall great friend. 

And whatever he was hiding, Sirius decided that he was going to figure it out. So he started keeping track of every time Remus left school and what excuses he gave the three of them and after a few months he noticed something.

"Merlin's beard..." Sirius muttered as he looked at his records. "James! Pete! Get your arses up here!" He shouted.

Within minutes the two boys had gathered by Sirius. "What?" James asked, annoyed that he had been pulled away from flirting with Lily Evans, despite the fact that she had been ignoring him.

"Okay, don't freak out, but I think I've figured out why Remus leaves school so often." Sirius said slowly.

"Go on." James said, impatient to get back to Evans.

"Well, see I've been marking on this calendar when he's been gone-"

"Isn't that mine?" Peter interjected.

"Yes, Pete and thank you for letting me borrow it," Sirius continued, "but it's a muggle calendar, see? And they do this silly thing where they mark the lunar cycle and, well, just look." He finished, spinning the calendar towards them.

"I don't get it." James said after a few seconds.

Sirius groaned in frustration. "Look at all the bloody days he's gone. Every single one of them is a full bloody moon!" He snapped.

"Let me get this straight," James said, "you think Remus is a... a..."

"Yeah," Sirius said grimly. "I think Remus is a werewolf."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is obviously going to be a continuing story. I'm not sure how many chapters it'll have though. Please leave reviews. Xx


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys talk about Remus being a werewolf.

Remus went back to the Gryffindor Common Room the day after the full moon feeling battered and dead on his feet. The last thing he was expecting was his best friends sat down waiting for him, looking like they were about to hold a serious intervention.

"Shouldn't you guys be in class?" He asked, confused.

Sirius gestured for Remus to sit down, so he did. Then Sirius looked at him and said, "Remus, we know."

 

Remus was suddenly very glad that he had sat down because he would've fallen over had he not. Still, he feigned innocence, maybe they didn't know what he was thinking of. "Know what?"

James scowled, "You bloody know what."

"Remus," Sirius said, "we know you're a werewolf."

A jolt of panic ran through him. They knew. They really knew. Remus looked down, afraid that he may start to cry. "Please don't hate me." He whispered.

"Hate you? What the hell mate? Why would we do that?" Sirius asked indignantly, plopping down next to him.

"Because I'm a monster." Remus replied, blinking back tears.

"Don't be daft Remus. We're your friends. That doesn't matter." Peter spoke up. 

Remus glanced up at the three boys. They all looked solemnly at him, seemingly firm in their position. A wave of gratitude rushed through Remus as he realized that for the first time in his life, he had friends who didn't care about his affliction.

And at that realization, Remus actually did cry. The other three knew better than to acknowledge it though, so Sirius just slung an arm around the shoulders of the crying twelve year-old lycanthrope until he finally pulled Sirius into a tight hug. He stood up and hugged James and Peter too. Biting his lip and then saying a simple "Thank you." That he didn't feel really could capture his gratitude.

 

Within a few days the boys were all extremely educated on the affliction and the treatment of werewolves. 

"This is bullshit." James announced, looking at all the rules from the Werewolf Registration Board. "You can't get married? Why the bloody hell not? And why do you have to check in all the time?"

"And you have to register when you turn 17?" Sirius inquired. "Then they number you? And they brand you?! That's ghastly!"

"They already numbered me," Remus admitted, nervously, showing the boys where he had his serial numbers tattooed on his arm.

"It reminds me of what they did to some people in the Muggle Holocaust." Peter said gravely.

"What's that?" Sirius asked.

"In the forties there was this Muggle named Hitler in Germany who sent all of these Muggles called Jews to 'camps' where they were tortured or killed and they were all numbered too." Peter explained, "My dad told me. If he hasn't had been working with the ministry he would've had to go and fight over there."

"Well what happened? Were all of those people okay?" Sirius inquired.

"Not really. Most of them were killed. But Hitler died in the end." Peter said.

"Did we kill him?" James questioned.

"No," Remus said, "he killed himself. And then some people were let out of the camps."

"Wait, why only some?" Sirius said, confused.

"Some of the people in those camps were gay, so even the good guys wouldn't let them out. They had to stay in the camps even after the war ended." Remus told him.

The four sat quietly for a moment, saddened by their thoughts. The silence was broke after a while by Peter, when he asked Remus what his transformations felt like and Remus had to try to explain.

"It's... Hard to describe. Your entire skeletal form has to re-structure itself, so all of your bones break and then rearrange themselves and then fuse back together. That's the worst of it. And then I hardly remember anything while I'm the wolf so I come to changing back."

"I wish we could help." James said solemnly.

"You can't though." Remus told them all, with a sad smile. 

"Remus?" Sirius said, "Can werewolves turn other animals?" 

"No, just humans." Remus replied, "I'm off to the library now though. I've got to start working on that Potions paper."

As Remus left, Sirius turned to look at James and Peter with a devious glint in his eyes. "I've got an idea for how to help Remus." He told them, "Have you ever heard of Animagi?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please please leave comments. Compliments, questions, and criticisms are all appreciated!


	4. (Third year)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's been ages since my last update, but I'll work on being more consistent.

"MOONY WE MADE THE TEAM!" Sirius yelled as he flopped down on a couch in the Common Room in his traditional fashion. Meaning he flopped down in a way that somehow seemed graceful, a feat that no one could explain, and then sprawled out, taking up far too much room, including Remus' lap. "I'm a Beater and James is a Chaser and the Gideon said I'm almost as good as Fabian! We're going to win, I just know it! Our first match is in two weeks and it's against Ravenclaw and Fabian says with our team the way it is this year, there's no way we'll lose to them!"

Remus had, thankfully, moved his book out of the way in time and was now looking at Sirius with a raised eyebrow. "Congratulations. Now get off of me you great git."

Sirius frowned and then squirmed a little bit, until he was sitting up in Remus' lap, "But I'm comfortable," he complained, wiggling around.

Remus shifted uncomfortably, desperately hoping that Sirius would not realize how his body was reacting to what Sirius was doing.

"I have to go to the bathroom." He said hurriedly, picking Sirius up and placing him on the couch next to him before getting up and dashing to their dorm, grateful for their billowing robes.

He left Sirius, who was quite surprised, especially by the show of Remus' werewolf strength that he usually did his best to hide, wondering if he had upset his friend somehow.

Meanwhile Remus was panicking in their bathroom trying to convince himself that it would have happened with anyone and the fact that it was a boy, and that it was Sirius, said nothing about him. Because Remus absolutely would not be gay on top of being a werewolf. And he especially would not be the werewolf who was gay for one of his best mates.

 

Sirius sat in the common room by himself for about two minutes before deciding it was about time he did some more research on becoming an Animagus. 

One hour later, he ducked out of the library quickly, trying not to be seen by Remus, because the books he was holding were a dead giveaway on The Plan, and by anyone else because, well, he did have a reputation to uphold.

He hurried back to their dorm room and dropped seven very heavy books on James' bed. James and Peter looked up from where they were arguing about their Divination assignment on Peter's bed.

"Alright boys, let's get going! We've studied the theory long enough, it's time to start getting somewhere!" Sirius exclaimed, picking up The Animagus Guide and cracking the book open.

 

Remus walked into the library, thoroughly embarrassed about the subject he was contemplating researching. He decided that he was going to finish his Divination essay first and, by the time he finished his 12 inch paper on all of the terrible things that would happen to him according to the dreams he had made up, he had completely chickened out about the prospect of getting any books even mentioning human sexuality.

And that's how Lily Evans found him. Sitting at a library table with his just-completed Divination essay next to him and hitting his head against the table.

"Is something wrong, Remus?" She asked him.

He straightened up right away and composed himself, mentally scolding himself for not having heard her, "No, I'm fine, Lily, Divination just kills me." He replied.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Did you really think I'd believe that?"

"I was hoping," he admitted.

Lily scoffed. "You can just tell me you don't want to talk about it Remus. But if you ever do, I'm here for you." She said before getting back up and heading over to the books about advanced Charms.

Remus groaned to himself and gathered his things, hating that he wasn't normal and hating how much he didn't feel like a Gryffindor at that moment.


	5. Chapter 5 (In Which More is Learned About The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black)

The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Webbs announced that the class would be practicing the Riddikulus spell on a boggart.

Remus panicked a bit when he heard that, as he knew that his boggart would involve the moon and that that could give him away to some of the more observant students. He was so worried about being found out that he didn't notice that Sirius looked almost as panicked as him.

The four boys were right by each other in the middle of the line as their classmates began taking turns practicing the spell. Remus grew increasingly more nervous as his turn approached, barely noticing the spiders and banshees and even geese. Then it was James' turn.

As James approached the boggart it shifted from the Bloody Baron into Lily Evans.

From behind him, Remus could hear Lily give a little gasp at the sight of herself.

The boggart Lily smiled cruelly at James and said, "I told you that I'd rather die before going out with you." Then, slash marks began appearing on her and she was bleeding profusely. James had gone completely white, but seemed to have remembered himself as he raised his wand and, with a shaking voice, called out "Riddikulus!"

The boggart Lily stopped bleeding and instead looked at James adoringly, reaching a hand out as if to stroke his cheek. James probably would have stood there for a while, but the real Lily cleared her throat loudly and Remus stepped forward, his legs shaking.

Immediately Lily disappeared and was replaced with the full moon. Remus felt his breathing speed up as he panicked. Thankfully, Sirius noticed how rigid Remus had gone and called out, "Remus, I know Divination is horrid, but really?" Leaving everyone to think that it was just a crystal ball and laughing.

Remus relaxed a little bit and murmured the spell, the moon turning into a balloon and flying around the classroom as the air was let out.

Then, Sirius stepped forward, his grip on his wand so tight that his fingers had lost all color, and the balloon shifted into the shape of his mother.

"ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!" Walburga Black shrieked, "A DISHONOR ON OUR HOUSE! A BLACK IN GRYFFINDOR! I SHOULD DISOWN YOU RIGHT NOW! YOURE A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A PUREBLOOD! NO SON OF MINE-" she continued yelling as she stepped forward and backhanded Sirius.

Sirius stumbled back from the hit and suddenly Peter was closer, so the boggart changed again. Remus had no idea what form it took as he quickly followed Sirius, who was running out of the classroom.

Remus chased him down the hall and into an abandoned classroom where he closed the door behind him and tentatively called out, "Sirius?"

Remus pretended not to hear the sniffling before a "What?" Came in response.

"Are you alright?" He asked, coming up behind Sirius and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"M'fine," Sirius grumbled.

Remus sighed and sat on the desk next to Sirius, "it's okay if it's not, you know. You never told us your mom was that bad." He said quietly.

"Didn't want to worry you." Sirius muttered.

"Does she do stuff like that often?"

"No."

"Does she?"

"Maybe."

"Sirius." Remus said, in a slightly sterner tone.

"Fine! What do you want to hear?" Sirius shouted, hopping off of the desk and beginning to pace, "That she beats me when she gets pissed off at me and that she locks me in the cellar when I do something that she deems extraordinarily bad? That she constantly tells me that if I weren't the heir she would've disowned me already? That, sometimes, when hitting me isn't enough she goes for the Crutiatus curse? Is that what you want to hear, Remus? Because there's nothing you can do about it."

Remus sat quietly until Sirius was done, and then, when he slumped up against the wall, tears streaming down his face, Remus moved to sit next to him.

"I'm sorry," Remus whispered, putting his arm around Sirius. Sirius just buried his face into Remus' shoulder in response and they stayed there until class was over.

~

When lunch came around, Sirius was still in a spectacularly bad mood. This sobered everybody, even James, as he no longer had his best friend to brainstorm with.

"Quidditch match tonight," James remarked casually, hoping to snap Sirius out of his mood. "You're coming, right Peter? Remus?"

"Of course," Remus answered for both of them, as Peter had his mouth full.

Suddenly, a voice rang out behind them. "Sirius dear, how are you cousin? I hear that Aunty Walburga paid a visit to you today." Bellatrix Black called out, laughing.

Sirius clenched his fists so hard that his hands lost all color at the knuckles. Remus put a hand on his shoulder and he relaxed a little bit. James stood up and looked and Bellatrix.

"I think you'd best leave, Bellatrix," he warned her, glancing back at Sirius to see if he had reacted at all, but Sirius looked emotionless. If it weren't for how tense Remus could feel he was, no one would know that he had even noticed Bellatrix. 

"That's awfully cute, Potter. It's okay, no need to protect my dear cousin, I'm just checking to make sure he's okay." Bellatrix then had the audacity to take James' spot next to Sirius and continue, albeit in a lower voice that only Sirius should have been able to hear, if it weren't for Remus' enhanced hearing.

"You know cousin, if you could have just lived up to the family's expectations none of this would have had to have happened. But, no, you had to be a Gryffindor and keep yourself in the company of blood traitors and half-bloods and even Mudbloods. I personally think you've deserved everything your parents have done to you and more. If you don't start watching yourself you'll end up like Andromeda. You'd better realize soon that our side is the winning side and the only side for a wizard from a family of our caliber's to join." On that note, she sprung up and, in an overly-dramatic way that reminded everyone of Sirius, spun and sauntered off, giving a little, "Ta, cousin! Looking forward to seeing you for the holidays!" And then she was gone, assumably to the Slytherin Common Room.

None of the four moved. And then Sirius very quietly said, "I think I'm going to go to our dorm now."

"Do you want someone to go with you?" Remus asked, worried about Sirius.

"No," Sirius replied, his voice tired in a way that made him seem much older than the barely fourteen he was, "I think I need to be alone for a bit." And then he left as well, leaving Remus, James, and Peter very worried. Leaving Peter worried if he would seem insensitive if he kept eating. Leaving James wondering if he could somehow break into the Slytherin Common Room and hex Bellatrix. And leaving Bellatrix's cruel words ringing in Remus' ears with Remus hoping that he was very very wrong about what he thought she had meant.


	6. Chapter Six

Sirius Black did not cry once he was in his dorm room. In fact, earlier that day would be the last time he would cry for a while, although he had no way of knowing that at the time.

No, Sirius Black did not cry, but he felt as though he could have. He simply sat on his bed and pulled the curtains around himself and stared into space. He hated his family. He hated his mother and his father and Bellatrix and Narcissa and the rest of his cousins and his aunts and uncles. The only people in his family that he didn't hate were his Great Uncle Alphard and his cousin Andromeda, along with her husband, of course. He would say he didn't hate Regulas either, but lately, he wasn't even sure of that.

He hated the Regulas he was seeing lately. The one who was prejudiced in the way that all Blacks were raised to be. The one who actually seemed to believe that coming from a pure blood family made him better than others. The Regulas that Sirius was beginning to see as of late was a far cry from the soft-spoken younger brother he had grown up with. And Sirius missed him deeply.

Sirius' thoughts were interrupted as Remus entered their dorm. "Hey, Sirius?" Remus called in, "Are you alright?" He continued, neither boy aware of how closely this paralleled their conversation from earlier.

Sirius contemplated pretending to be asleep, but decided against it, he had more classes after lunch was over anyways and he knew that, although Remus would probably leave him be and let him get away with ditching, he'd also somehow know that Sirius wasn't really asleep.

"'M fine," Sirius' muffled voice came from behind the bright red Gryffindor curtains surrounding his bed.

Remus sighed and made his way over to his friend's bed, slipping behind the curtains and sitting next to Sirius, "No you're not," he said, "but that's okay. Do you want to talk about it?" Remus asked, unsure of what else he could do and wishing James had been the one elected to check on Sirius, Sirius always seemed to tell James everything.

"No." Sirius replied, "well, maybe." He corrected. Remus just sat patiently, knowing there was nothing better that he could do. "I don't want to go back home for the hols and it's just- it's just that my entire family is mad, you know? And they want, well, what they want me to do, I just don't think I can live up to their expectations. Or, maybe I could, but I don't think I want to." Sirius let out. 

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"Okay, listen, you can't tell anyone, not even James, okay?" Sirius said, sobering even more, then continuing at Remus' nod, "I think that my parents, when I'm older, expect me to join You Know Who."

Sirius' face had gone pale and he was looking at his hands, which were fidgeting in his nervousness. Remus put a hand on Sirius' shoulder, "But you don't have to." He said simply, and that, for some reason, made Sirius feel a little bit better.

~

By the time their next class after lunch was starting, Sirius was feeling better. Granted, not 100% back to his good old self, but significantly better than he had been feeling earlier.

James shot a grateful look at Remus, happy to have Sirius back almost to normal. James was only thirteen and he didn't quite know what to do when his friend was in a mood. Remus seemed so much older than the rest of them sometimes, he was much better at dealing with people when they were upset.

The boys entered their Transfiguration classroom and Remus already felt sorry for McGonagall. He knew that James was going to try to make Sirius feel better through the only way he truly knew how to. 

Pranks.

And McGonagall was one of their favorite victims.

Everyone in the right mind was astounded by that fact. Minerva McGonagall was a tough teacher and a terrifying woman when she wanted to be. She was strict and serious and more intimidating than a hoard of stampeding hippogriffs.

She also, for reasons even she couldn't comprehend, had a soft spot for the Marauders.

Not that it showed very much. She had no qualms about putting the boys in detention or taking points away from their house. Well, she wasn't a fan of taking points, as it was also her house, but she did what she had to do.

It was simply that the boys were really quite inventive and they by no means lacked intellect and McGonagall still remembered Dumbledore debating with the School Board about letting Remus attend Hogwarts and how nervous everyone was about his prospects of making friends, but here he was. With enough friends to cause trouble. With enough friends to be apart of a school-renown band of troublemakers.

Perhaps Minerva rooted for the underdog a bit, but the werewolf she had first met when he was eleven had swiftly taken a special place in her heart. As had the boy who defied his family and became a Gryffindor, despite the prejudiced way he was raised. And James and Peter had earned brownie points by being such good friends to these two boys who she had, to be truthful, worried about quite a bit once she had learned of their backgrounds. It most certainly didn't hurt that they all also excelled in her subject.

Regardless, McGonagall liked the four boys and despite everything that James Potter was about to put her through in the next hour, she would still quietly favor them.

But James did not make it easy for her.

Despite the fact that Sirius sat right next to him, James sent massive, charmed paper airplanes circling around the room to deliver notes to his friend. When the paper airplanes got old, he started making other magical flying paper contraptions. Soon, the classroom was full of flying paper airplanes, owls, crows, butterflies, eagles, and small dragons.

Which, as one could imagine, quite disrupted the class. 

It still wasn't enough to satisfy James though, so then he decided that he needed something to make noise. Otherwise there clearly wasn't enough chaos. So, obviously, he transfigured an empty desk into an ostrich.

Professor McGonagall was frozen for a solid five seconds by this rather advanced display of magic before the thing's squawking necessitated that she finally took action.

"MR. POTTER!" She bellowed, although she softened when she saw that Sirius was finally laughing. Then, she shook herself, figuratively of course, and continued, "MR. POTTER YOU MUST TURN THAT OSTRICH BACK IMMEDIATELY."

"Oh, but professor," James replied, looking quite proud of himself, "I didn't get to learning how to transfigure it back."

Minerva probably would've sent the boy down to Dumbledore's office right then and there, but Sirius had positively brightened at that comment and was now laughing so hard he was turning red and Peter and Remus were looking at James with near reverence. So, she simply turned the ostrich back herself and said, "This'll be three weeks of detention Mr. Potter."

James looked at Sirius, who was still laughing and remembered how bad of a mood he had been in just an hour ago and shrugged, "It was worth it."


	7. Chapter 7

Remus was sat at the edge of his seat in the Gryffindor bleachers. Peter was right next to him, on the edge of his seat as well and everyone around them was shouting at the top of their lungs. Gryffindor was tied with Ravenclaw at eighty points a piece at their first Quidditch game of the season and the Snitch had just been sighted.

Unfortunately, Ravenclaw's Seeker was closer.

Until, that is, Sirius sent a spectacularily aimed Bludger at the poor blokes head. Thankfully, Ravenclaw's Seeker had good reflexes, so he dodged it, but, in doing so, he lost sight of the Snitch. Thankfully, Gryffindor's Seeker found it quickly thereafter and caught it just as James made a goal with the Quaffle, making it so that Gryffindor won by 160 points, instead of just 150.

The entire Gryffindor section of bleachers erupted in applause as the players all sank down to the pitch to start celebrating. Remus pushed his way through the crowd to make his way to Sirius and James, with Peter following him closely.

"Oi! Mates! We won!" Sirius shouted, as soon as he saw them approaching, he looked absolutely ecstatic. He grabbed Remus and pulled him into a great hug and Remus felt his face heat up. Then he pulled away and started running around the entire pitch shouting "We won!" Until one of the Prewetts grabbed him and brought him back over.

Sirius' face was flush with victory and exertion and Remus couldn't help but think that he hadn't ever seen him look so beautiful. Then he quickly shook the thought from his head. He, apparently, had also literally shook his head as James came over and clapped him on the back, "You alright mate?" he asked, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah, s'fine. Congrats mate, nice match." Remus replied.

James' face lit up again, "Oh man, Remus, I really wish you'd've tried out. Quidditch is bloody brilliant."

"You know I couldn't. My... furry little problem would keep me from too many practices."

"Right, sorry mate. I'm glad you were well enough to come to this match though. Oi! Prewett!" James shouted, heading off to Fabian or Gideon.

Remus really wasn't supposed to be out exerting himself quite yet. The full had only been two night ago and he still had a bad scratch on his leg and was bruised all over, but he had wanted to go to the game for Sirius. And he was glad he had come, as Sirius had escaped the Prewetts when James went over and was now headed back over towards him. "Moony, let's go celebrate in the Common Room!" Sirius demanded, grabbing Remus' hand and tugging him, not too roughly, he hadn't quite forgotten this month's injuries, off of the pitch.

Remus wished that Sirius could stay this happy forever, but he know the hols were coming up and that in three weeks everyone would be packing up to go home and Sirius wouldn't be in nearly as good a mood as he was in now. He wished he could make it so that Sirius was always happy, that he could take him away from his horrid family. He felt this way about all of his friends though, obviously. Because Remus couldn't have a crush on Sirius even if his smile gave him butterflies and he knew deep in his heart that he'd give anything for Sirius to be this happy forever. He'd do that for any of his friends. He had to believe that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys can follow my tumblr if you want to ask for one shots or pester me for updates by the way. Its UnderTheNarnianSun


	8. Chapter 8

"Moony, I don't get it." Sirius whined, his head down on a table in the library. "I just can't remember all the dates and everyone's name sounds similar."

Remus looked up from where he was writing his own History of Magic essay, "Sirius, you've got all the answers in front of you."

"Yeah, but I can't focus." He pouted, running a hand through his hair.

Remus himself was surprised he could focus with Sirius complaining and looking so... elegantly disheveled, which didn't even make any sense as a description (but if anyone could make it work, it was Sirius), across the table from him.

"Why can't you focus? I thought the library would be easier to focus in than the common room," Remus said, looking back at his paper and missing how Sirius turned red.

"Dunno, I just can't focus," he muttered, not wanting to tell Remus that part of it was just how cute Remus looked when he was concentrating.

"Well do you feel alright?" Remus asked, looking up, suddenly concerned.

"I'm fine Rem-" Sirius was saying, but already Remus came around the table and put the back of his hand against Sirius' forehead.

"You do look a little flushed and, you know what? You feel a bit warm." Remus said, frowning. "Maybe you should go back to our dorm and rest."

Sirius was grateful that his friend had mistaken his blushing for being ill and anxious to get away before Remus felt the need to retake his temperature, he jumped up, "Maybe you're right Moons, I'll just go back to our dorm then." Then he turned around and rushed away, leaving a very confused and concerned Remus behind.

Remus became so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Lily plop down beside him. "Hey Remus, what's wrong?"

Remus started a bit, but then recovered and said, "What d'you mean?"

"Well, it's just that you've got that look you get when you're upset. Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

Remus bit his lip, maybe Lily would get it. She was the most level-headed of all of his friends after all. "Lils, if I tell you something, you've got to promise not to tell anyone else, okay?"

"Of course, Remus," Lily promised.

"I haven't exactly told this to anyone else, but I- I think I may be... gay." Remus said quietly.

"Oh, Remus, is that it? I thought you were ill! I still love you, you idiot, this doesn't change anything." Lily reassured him.

"But Lily, it gets worse, I think I might like Sirius." Remus continued.

"Oh, well that might be a problem." Lily relented. "We'll get you through this, Remus. We'll get you through this."

Remus really hoped she was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's reading this! I also have a tumblr where y'all can request one shots or just message me about updating, it's UnderTheNarnianSun


	9. Chapter 9

Christmas break started in two days and everyone was excited to be seeing their family. Except for Sirius. 

This was entirely understandable to anyone who had even heard rumors about the Blacks. It was especially understandable to Remus, James, and Peter, for they had heard first-hand how horrible Sirius' family was.

James, however, really had been missing his folks, so containing his excitement was proving difficult. Peter was also looking forward to seeing his mum and dad, and his mum's cooking, so he was offensively excited as well. That left Remus to empathize with Sirius. As much as Remus truly did love his parents, he was facing a transformation over break and the set up they had at home was much less preferable to the one at school. So, as he was not so cheery about going home that it offended Sirius, he was charged with trying to reassure Sirius that things wouldn't be so bad along with making sure he packed.

"You get to go to James' for the second week, so you'll only be at your parents' for the first week."

"They can be just as bad in one week as they can in two."

"You'll miss their New Year's party though."

"I won't miss the Christmas party."

"You told me you have to stay in your room for that."

"Not this year. Apparently I'm old enough for them to start trying to arrange a marriage, so they've invited lots of pureblood families with daughters."

Remus didn't really know how to respond to that.

Sirius continued angrily shoving clothes into his chest, when he paused and sat on his bed Remus took everything out and folded it, knowing that Sirius would be scolded horribly if his clothing was wrinkled.

Then he went to sit next to Sirius. "You can get through this, you know. I know they're awful, but it's only a week and they'll be busy keeping their relations going most of the time so they won't even be focused on you and then you'll be at James' and Peter will be there too. And maybe I'll be okay by New Year's and I'll drop by as well."

Sirius looked up at him, "I just hate it so much, you know? Like, I can't be who they want me to be. Even before I was sorted into Gryffindor, I don't think they liked me much because I just never understood their beliefs. And they want me to join You Know Who and be a Death Eater with a rich pureblood wife, but that's not what I want and I think they hate me for it."

Remus fidgeted with the hem of his sweater, "Maybe you don't need to be who they want you to be. Once you're of age, they can't make your decisions for you. You just have to get through the next couple of years and you know I'll always be here for you, right? And James and Peter of course."

"Course I know that. But you can't change my parents,"

"Of course we can't, no one can. But we can help you deal with them until you can move out. Find your own place without their rules."

"I can't wait for that."

And Remus, having seen for years how much pain Sirius' parents had caused him, couldn't wait for that either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've had some personal stuff going on. Y'all can message me on my tumblr to get me to update faster at UnderTheNarnianSun


	10. Chapter Ten

Sirius was glaring out the window of the train, sighing and swearing under his breath with increasing frequency as they got closer to the station. Peter and James either were so caught up in their excitement or were just ignoring him.

Sirius wished that Remus were there. He, at least, would pay attention to him. 

Sirius really did feel bad for Remus. He knew how much he loved his parents and how much he hated it when the full fell over breaks. Sirius wished he could have stayed back to be with Remus after his transformation. Actually, Sirius wished that he had figured out the Animagus transformation so that he could help Remus during his transformation. Unfortunately, there was very little information available to underage students who were attempting the process without going through the ministry.

When the train did arrive at the station, Sirius was unsurprised to see not his parents, but rather Kreacher there to pick him up. He steadied himself and tried to remember that he only had to tolerate a week, and then he'd be going over to James', with Peter. And Remus.

 

Remus was unsurprised to find that there were only maybe a dozen students who had stayed behind. There were only two other Gryffindors, and they were a seventh year couple who, Remus supposed, just wanted to spend more time together.

Within the first 24 hours of Christmas break, Remus had already received four owls. One from his parents, wishing him well, reminding him that they love him, and saying that they miss him terribly. One from James, saying that if his furry little problem kept him from coming over after Christmas, he would be very cross. One from Lily, who had a few words to say about the other three's behavior on the train, but also wished him a happy Christmas and promised her gift would be coming along soon. And the last one was from Sirius, in which he mostly complained about how awful his parents had been already, but also mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing Remus at James', which should not have made Remus smile as much as it did. Sirius' letter also came with an excessive amount of chocolate, with a note that said "For after the full".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to update, I guess time just got away from me. As always, my tumblr is UnderTheNarnianSun if anyone ever wants to message me.


	11. Chapter 11 (the first half of Christmas break)

Sirius sat at the Black's dinner table and tried to look like he wouldn't prefer to scoop his own eyes out than talk to the young girl his parents were trying to arrange for him to be married to in a few years. 

She was pretty, Sirius supposed. With fair skin and white blonde hair and striking blue eyes. She had a bit of an accent, something Nordic, Sirius thought, although he couldn't place it. He had already forgotten her name, but knew she went to Durmstrang with her older brother, who Sirius found much more interesting. 

He has similar features to his sister, but on him, they were much more striking. Sirius stared at him for a second, then averted his eyes, afraid of being caught. He forced himself to look back at the girl, who was chatting with Regulus. Why couldn't those two just get married? They definitely seemed to get along much better. 

And Sirius had still never been interested in a girl. Sure, he had been able to appreciate if a girl was pretty, but at fourteen he had still never had the desire to even kiss a girl. 

He had never told this to anyone though, not even James. He didn't want his best mate to think he was a poof or something. Even if he might be. 

Sirius looked back at the boy, who caught him staring and winked. Winked. Sirius felt his face go red and he quickly looked down at his plate, busying himself with pushing his food around. The girl turned to him and began to ask him how he liked Hogwarts. 

"It's fantastic. Best wizarding school ever," Sirius replied. 

"I don't know about zat," the girl shot back, "Durmstrang is very good."

Sirius ignored her. He knew Hogwarts was better. That's where his friends were. 

 

Remus walked to the Whomping Willow by himself. Professor McGonagall had offered to walk with him, but he didn't want company. Well, he did. But his friends weren't there so he'd take being alone. 

After freezing the Willow, he began his trek through the tunnels. He felt his bones beginning to shift and sped up a bit. 

When he was finally in the Shrieking Shack, his quickly disrobed and stored his clothes where the wolf wouldn't be able to reach them. Then he curled up in a ball on the floor and laid there and pain began to rack his body and his bones began to crack and rearrange themselves. 

Within a few minutes, Remus was no longer there. There was just the wolf. 

 

When Remus came to hours later, he was still in pain. His entire body aches and the wolf had definitely chewed at his leg quite a bit, for his arm was bleeding badly. He managed to crawl into the bed in the Shack, cover himself partially with the blanket, and pass out, for Madame Pomfrey to find him a few minutes later. 

His injuries were taken care of, his arm wrapped, and he was all cleared to go to the Potter's after a day or two of rest, which went by extraordinarily slowly, but Remus knew that his friends were worth the wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to jaxgrem from tumblr, she messaged me and she's super sweet. As always, my tumblr is UnderTheNarnianSun if anyone ever wants to message me there.


	12. Chapter 12: The Second Half of Winter Break

Sirius was relieved to say the least. He was finally out of his house and, even better, he was going to the Potter's manor, which was more like a castle, to be frank.

He was beyond excited to be seeing his friends again, although a little worried about how Remus was doing. The moon had just occurred and he knew that his friend would risk his health just to come to the Potters'. He had been assured through letters that Remus had healed up just fine, but he was still concerned about him. 

Arriving at the Potter's via the Floo network, he was immediately embraced by who he eventually realized was James. 

"James Fleamont Potter, you let the poor boy breathe!" Sirius heard Mrs. Potter scold. 

James released Sirius, calling, "Was it really necessary to throw in my middle name?" Right as Mr. Potter came into the room with a "Hello Sirius! How was Christmas?" 

"It was fine," he answered, not quite so honestly. 

James looked at Sirius, obviously not at all believing him, but instead of calling him out, he said, "Remus should be here any minute now. His dad is driving him over." 

"James dear, I think he's here now," Mrs. Potter called out, looking out the window. 

"Well come on mates!" James shouted, rushing over to his front door without even checking to make sure that Sirius and Peter were following, although they were. 

And Remus was indeed here, looking a little worse for wear, but not the worst the boys had seen him at. Sirius immediately noticed that he had his case in his left hand and had his right arm bandaged and curled protectively at his side and ran outside to say hello and to carry his bag for him. 

Remus smiled when he saw Sirius, which should not have made his heart flutter the way it did because they were just friends, and he put his case down. "Careful," he said as he held out his arm to hug his friend. 

"I know," Sirius said gently, carefully hugging his friend and then quickly snatching up his case. 

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed around James' hug, "Give that back! I can carry it myself!"

"I know," Sirius said, "I never said you couldn't. I'm just going to carry it for you."

Remus sighed around Peter's hug, resigning himself to just accept Sirius' help. There was no use arguing with him, so Remus simply followed his friends inside as they headed to one of the bedrooms in the Potter manor. 

"Pete got here first, so he's rooming with me. Sirius, Remus, you two'll be in here together." James said, then he plopped down on one of the beds. 

"Now," he said, "it's time to discuss plan F of wooing Evans."

"That one's never going to work, she'll hate the fireworks," Remus said, also falling onto one of the beds. 

"They're romantic!" James proclaimed. 

"They're destructive." Remus retorted, "She'll hate it."

"He has a point, mate." Sirius said. 

"Pshh. No he does not. She'll love it. Right Pete?"

Peter looked back and forth between his friends nervously, "Uh, of course she will James," he said. 

"See! Peter agrees with me!" James shouted, "Now, we need to come up with a spell that'll make the fireworks go into the patterns we want." 

Just then Mr. Potter knocked on the door. "What's this I hear about fireworks?"

"James is planning to woo Lily Evans," Peter said. 

"Pete!" James yelled, "you weren't supposed to tell my parents!"

"Sorry," Pete muttered, looking ashamed. 

"Fireworks? James, that doesn't sound like a good idea." Mr. Potter said, "I don't think Lily will appreciate it. Not from what you've told me about her."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" James whined. 

"I have a feeling that if you just talk to her and treat her like a person, she'll like you much more than if you keep it up with these wild romantic gestures." Mr. Potter told him. 

"Okay dad, I'll keep that in mind." James replied. 

"Alright, I just came up to tell you boys that dinner's ready," Mr. Potter said. 

"We'll be down in a minute," James told him. 

When Mr. Potter left, James jumped up and said, "Well, that was daft advice. We begin our planning after dinner!"

That night after a few hours of trying to convince James that he really didn't need a firework to explode into a firework version of him and Lily embracing, they went to sleep. But not for long, because Remus was woken in the middle of the night by a strange sound.

He rolled over in his bed and opened his eyes, taking a minute to allow them to get adjusted to the dark. He heard a noise again, and realized that it was coming from Sirius' bed. 

Sirius was having a nightmare. 

He was making noises that sounded panicked, not quite words, not quite moans, but something in between. Remus carefully got out of bed and went over to Sirius. He placed a hand on Sirius' should and gently shook him. 

"Sirius. Sirius, wake up." He said quietly. "Sirius!" He said, making his voice a bit louder, shaking him again. 

Sirius woke with a gasp and as he moved into the light, Remus saw tears falling down his face. He sat up and wiped away his tears, then wrapped his arms around himself. 

"Sorry," he said softly, "I was having a nightmare."

Remus sat beside him, putting his good arm around Sirius, "I know. Are you okay?" He asked. 

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Sirius said, "Just- can you maybe stay? I mean, not if that would be weird, I just-" but Remus was already holding the blanket out for Sirius to crawl under beside him. 

Sirius smiled and crawled under the covers. He rolled onto his side and rest his head on Remus' chest, putting an arm around him. "Is this okay?" He asked nervously. 

"Of course it is." Remus answered, trying to ignore the butterflies. He put his arm back around Sirius and quickly fell asleep feeling all too content. When he woke up, he was surprised, though not displeased, to find that Sirius was still curled up against him. He guiltily wished he could wake up like this every morning, but knew it could never happen. 

 

By New Year's Eve, the proper spells for James' plan had been found, although Remus had no hesitation voicing his reservations. 

"I still think she'll hate it," he said on multiple occasions, to which James simply shushed him. 

"Hey lads," James said as midnight quickly approached, "Not to be a girl, but I love you all."

"Aw, Jamie, we love you too!" Sirius exclaimed. 

"Shut up, Sirius," James retorted. 

"Ignoring Sirius' fragile masculinity," Remus said, "We really do love you too, James."

"Yeah, we do. I love all of you mates." Peter added, with a sincerity that Remus found touching. 

"Boys!" Mrs. Potter's voice rang out from inside, "It's almost midnight!"

So, all four of them darted inside to gather around in the Potter's radio to countdown to the new year. When the countdown reached zero, they all yelled nonsense, making noise to make noise, rather than to have meaning. 

There was a scramble as everyone hugged everyone and suddenly Remus found himself pressed against Sirius. He wrapped his arms around his friend and suppressed a shudder when he suddenly felt Sirius' breath on his ear as he whispered "happy new year, Moony."

As the hug ended, Remus hoped desperately that Sirius would believe that his blush was from anything but their proximity, not knowing that Sirius was hoping the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm literally the worst, I know. But, hey, I updated eventually. Shoutout to my friend Molia, who edited this for me and also helped me a lot with the creative process as well. As always, my Tumblr is underthenarniansun, if anyone wants to message me there! Thank you for reading!


	13. Merry Christmas Here’s a Filler

The fireworks, as expected, had not been received well by Lily. or Mcgonagall. Although it was impossible to prove anyone’s involvement besides James’, all four of them had detention every night for a week. 

They were tasked with the wonderful chore of cleaning out cauldrons with Slughorn. The task was bettered by the fact that the cauldrons were dirtied again every day and that Slughorn had decided that this was the perfect week to get started on the more corrosive and dangerous potions with his sixth and seventh year students. 

“This is just great.” Sirius had moaned their first day, “This stuff is basically acid. I’m not going to have any skin left after this.”

“That’s why he gave us gloves, idiot.” James had replied. 

Sirius sighed ever so dramatically as he stood up and grabbed a pair of dragon-hide gloves that Slughorn had supplied for them. “This is all your fault James. I told you the fireworks were a bad idea.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure I did.” Remus piped up. 

“Whatever. Neither of you stopped me. It happened. We’ve all got detention, might as well serve it.”

And so they continued cleaning the cauldrons, the silence only broken by the occasionally bout of swearing whenever one of them hit a spot that was particularity stubborn and wouldn’t come out. 

After a few hours of cleaning, they had finally gone through the hundreds of cauldrons and rendered all of them spotless, thus they were dismissed by Slughorn with a “Thank you boys, see you again tomorrow night.”

It was past midnight and they were all exhausted. They made their way to the Gryffindor Common Room and up to their room. 

Sirius immediately fell into the bed nearest to the door, still fully clothed. This bed, however, wasn’t his. it was Remus’. 

“Sirius?” Remus said. “What are you doing?”

“M sleeping.” Sirius mumbled back. 

“That’s my bed though.”

“Too lazy. To move. To mine.” Sirius said through the pillow. 

“Where am I supposed to sleep then?” Remus asked. 

“You can take mine.” Sirius replied. 

“I refuse.” Remus said, “Your sheets are covered in crumbs.”

“Then we’ll share yours.” Sirius suggested tiredly.

Remus hesitated for a second. Then he said, “Alright.” And quickly changed into his pajamas, as James and Peter had already done. 

Once dressed, he went back to his bed, which Sirius was still sprawled across. “Budge up.” Remus said, gently pushing Sirius to the side. Sirius groaned and rolled over a bit, so that Remus could also fit in the bed. They were very close, the bed not being made for two people. 

Remus was hyperaware of his leg resting against Sirius’ and their arms touching. He tried to calm his heartbeat to a normal rate but he was just so conscious of the fact that Sirius was right next to him. Over break had been different. Sirius had had a nightmare. There was no good reason behind it this time. 

Eventually he started drifted off and when he woke up Sirius was gone, but his voice could be heard from where he was singing in the shower. he was quietly sad that he hadn’t woken up more like over break, with Sirius in his arms, but he knew he shouldn’t think like that. That that had been a one-time thing, never to happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i’m really sorry that i’m the worst at updating. merry christmas to those of you who celebrate it! shout out to the lovely anon who messaged me on tumblr! (mine is underthenarniansun, feel free to message me there!)


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